


Resist

by Nazemova



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Commander Poe Dameron, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Kylo Ren/Rey, Everyone Needs A Hug, Force Bond (Star Wars), Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Multi, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Slow Burn, The Empire never lost, The Rebel Alliance is barely holding on, What if the second Death Star never blew up?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-03-25 08:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13830177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nazemova/pseuds/Nazemova
Summary: In any other alignment of time, Poe Dameron would never have worked with who he did: BB8, his astromech droid; Rose, a former slave; Hux, a banished Imperial General; Phasma, an exiled Stormtrooper Captain; Kylo, the failed Jedi and Finn, the defected Stormtrooper who helped them escape the grasp of the Empire only to be stranded on the desert planet of Jakku.His team, however, is not full, he only needs one more person. He needs a mechanic, someone to help his team fly off this desert planet so they can take down the Empire like the Rebel Alliance should have done 29 cycles ago.





	1. Who we are

**Author's Note:**

> What started off as a post-apocalyptic AU has taken over my life. 
> 
> A Star Wars Epic written with love, hope and as a distraction from the real world.

It had been 29 cycles since Darth Vader had fallen.

29 cycles since the Battle of Endor.

29 cycles since the Rebel Alliance failed to blow up the second Death Star, since Emperor Palpatine gained a new apprentice, the destruction of the MC80a star cruiser and of many of the ships from the Starfighter Corps were destroyed.

It had been 29 cycles since the Rebel’s banished Luke and Anakin Skywalker to a remote planet in the Outer Rim for their treason. 29 cycles since Leia begged Mon Mothma to reconsider their faith, or, at least, that she could see her brother one last before he disappeared. It had been 29 cycles since the senator said that there was nothing she could do.

It had been 29 years since the hope of the rebellion had diminished from a glistening light to an obliterated glow.

The Rebellion’s number had reduced radically as the years went on. With the law passed on hyperdrive restriction, finding a ship to fly off world with had become scarce and with that, the interest in the Alliance.

Poe Dameron had known nothing but this war his whole life. He was born on Yavin IV, a planet that was a homeworld of the Rebel Alliance, a planet since destroyed by the second death star. He had been training under the watchful eyes of his mother until her death, and his father until his.

Part of him had felt betrayed when he was stranded on Jakku with FN-2187 and the rest of his small Rebel crew. As soon as he was able to contact Leia, he did, only to be told that they didn’t have a single ship with a working hyperdrive to take them off-world, let alone the fuel and reserves to make it to the western regions.

He glanced around the interior of a fallen command ship that they had stolen from the Empire, the one that he and his team had escaped in after getting captured by their enemy, a recuse that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the stormtrooper that couldn’t stand his own alliance.

FN-2187 had helped Poe and his crew escaped by the skin of their teeth.

A team, that in any other situation, he would never have dreamed of working with.

In any other of alignment of time, they would all have been fighting on opposite ends of the battlefield, never would they have worked together like they’ve been doing for so long now.

Despite their crash landing, the internal shell of the Command Ship had stayed mostly intact, giving them a space to sleep and hide. Of course, there were cracks in the slick, black walls and most the furniture had been broken or burned, but they made what they could out of what they had.  
His eyes glanced to Rose, a former slave of the Empire who now sat in the cockpit of the stolen shuttle, trying to tune the frequency of the comm unit. She was an expert in communications and transmission mechanics. She had gotten them out of trouble more times than Poe could count, able to decipher the hidden codes and secret messages of ambush attacks and supply runs.

She had a mind for technology and could figure out any machine’s software if given a few minutes alone with it.

She had once explained to Poe that, as a child, she had delivered food to one of the Radio towers that the Empire had placed on her home planet, Hays Minor. She would watch the people who had taken away her family, her childhood, her freedom. She watched, and she learned, knowing it could get her out of this hell one day.

She was always so kind and gentle for someone who had their life taken away from them for most of their life. She was generous with her time and supplies even when others had not been to her.

Not everyone was as kind as she was, though.

He watched as a tall blonde woman joined her in the co-pilot's seat. Burned skin covered most of her left side, something she actually took in her pride.

Phasma had survived the wrath of Mustafar and had lived to tell the tale. Despite her previous rank in the Empire, she was abandoned on the deadly planet after a disagreement with her superior officer.

“ _Very few can actually say that they upset or angered Brendol Hux and survived,_ ” She told him as they watched over their base one night. “ _He left his own son to die, drifting through space on an escape pod with almost no fuel reserves or rations after he let Snoke’s apprentice escape._ ”

Brendol Hux, to Poe’s own knowledge, was the Grand Vizier of the Empire, second in command only to their supreme leader, Snoke. His son, Armitage, was now one of Dameron’s crew, swearing revenge on his father and the entire Empire after his man he once called family treated him as he did.

“Poe?” He heard a voice call from the cockpit, distinctly an imperial accent. He got up from his position to join the two women in the front of the ship.

“Talk to me, Phasma.”

“We’re after getting a distress signal from Hux, shall we ignore it?” there were few emotions that actually ran through her voice, it was a rare occurrence when they did.

“To be honest,” Rose interjected, eyes never moving from the controls in front of her. “He sends us a distress signal every time somebody looks at him funny.”

Poe nodded; he knew every word of what she said was true. Hux was an intelligent man, but he was scared of his own shadow. He could never go on supplies runs alone, he was likely to cause trouble if he did, which was the last thing they needed right now.

“He should be fine,” Poe agreed, looking over the women’s work on the cockpit. They were trying to rewire the controls, and Maker bless their souls were they trying, even to find parts that they could salvage. “Hux has Finn and BB-8 with him, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Finn?” For the first time in so long, he heard the confusion in the blonde’s voice. She turned away from the electrical wires to face the pilot. “Who’s Finn?”

Rose had stopped what she was doing and directed her attention to Poe as well, curious to hear his answer.

He sighed. In hindsight, he should have made this decision with the rest of the team. But, he was their leader, and he knew his choice was final.

“Finn is Fn-2187,” He began. “He’s part of our crew now, and I will not be calling him by a number that was given to him as a prisoner of the empire.”

Finn had only been with them a few weeks at this point, but he had proved more than useful to his team. He was medically trained by the Empire before his defection and had helped with each of their wounds after they crashed on Jakku. He was also skilled in combat, knowing how to defend himself and others from the trouble they got themselves into.

Poe couldn’t help but be so absolutely captivated by their newest member. Finn had stopped at nothing to help them despite his fear of being found and killed by the Empire. Whereas Hux had developed a need for revenge against his former comrades, Finn just wanted to move on, forget his past and start fresh.

He didn’t want to admit to himself, but, despite only know him for such a short period of time; Poe knew that the reason for his heart racing whenever he was around the other man was one of admiration and adoration. He didn’t want to tell the rest of the team, yet. It was only the night before that Poe had confessed his feelings for the other man, begging him to stay with him, to fight their enemy together.

He was so lost in his train of thought, remembering his own lips on soft, ebony skin the night before, that he didn’t realise the woman in front of him had begun to talk again.

“-hyperdrive?”

Poe blinked, he should have been paying more attention, not letting himself be distracted by the thought of Finn’s skin on his own, fingers intertwining-

“Pardon?” He asked.

Rose just sighed, he wasn’t listening, of course, he wasn’t.

“I said,” she emphasised every word that came out her mouth, making sure he didn’t miss it. “Has Kylo said anything to you about the hyperdrive?”

Poe shook his head, the other man had been outside for a good while now, and still, they hadn’t heard any update from him.

Typical. Kylo never spoke unless spoken too, something the rest of them weren’t sure if it was a result of pride or paranoia.

“I’ll go check on him,” Poe said, making his way towards the hole in the shell of the ship where a door once stood. He ignored the whispers behind him, focusing on the desert outside.

-  


Kylo was where Poe expected him to be, sitting on top of the ship's exterior, scrubbing oil off of worn tools with whatever scrap of fabric he could find. He legs were nowhere to be seen, presumably dangling into the opening to the ship’s inner workings.

“Hey,” he called up, waving a hand to catch the other’s attention. “Need a hand?”

The mask that covered his face muffled whatever he had answered, but his extended arm to Poe made him presume that his response was a “yes”.

The ship itself was huge, it was only about a foot or two taller than the pilot. The climb itself wasn’t difficult in the slightest, what was was the heat of the black exterior shell that burned his skin when he did.

Kylo’s shirt only covered a thin strip of his shoulders, a red glow appearing on his skin on either side of the fabric.

“How the hell are you able to work in the thing?” Poe asked as soon as he was sitting beside him, pointing towards Kylo’s mask. The thing was breathable, of course, but he rarely went out without it.

Slowly, he pushed the mouth guard up. Years ago, it had been able to open with a touch of a button, but now it was all manually done. As soon the mask was taken off, Poe could see that his face was covered in droplets of sweat, his usual pale skin was instead hot and flustered.

It took a few pants of breath before he answered back.

“Don’t...don’t want to be recognised,” he choked out, his throat obviously dry and coarse.

Poe took the metal bottle clipped into his own belt and handed it to Kylo. For the first mission in a while, they weren’t short on water or other rations. The command ship they had stolen had had a closet full of canisters of clean water and portion packets, and they had been lucky in the villages nearby had accepted salvage pieces as payment for food and other supplies.

There was a desperation in Kylo’s expression as he grabbed the container from Poe’s hand. He wondered why the man hadn’t taken from the supplies earlier, but put that thought aside as soon as he saw the item attached to the other’s belt.

“Ya know,” Poe began, pointing to Kylo’s side. “People are a lot less likely to recognise you if you didn’t have a lightsaber attaches to belt.”

Tapping the base of the bottle, the other man's eyes didn’t move from the opening of the container. He certainly looked a little better now that his thirst had been quenched, using the back of his hand to wipe the excess water off of his lips.

“Never know when you’re going to get into trouble,” Kylo casually replied. Poe had known him long enough to know that the other never went anywhere without the weapon attached to his belt either.

It was always with him, but almost never used, only igniting it when situations got extremely dire.

A smirk appeared across Kylo’s face, right before he jumped back into the innards of the shuttle. He was crouching between wires and cables, large hands squeezing into small spaces.

“Poe, I have good news and bad news for you.”

He heard himself groan before the man began to speak.

“Bad news is that this ship is never going to fly again.”

Without thinking, Poe heard a loud grumble in the back of his throat, roaring out profanities as he hit his fist against the hard metal of the ship’s roof.

Only when his anger was quelled and his voice quiet, did the other speak again:

“Most of the generators are too broken to fix, but, the hyperdrive is completely intact.” Kylo pushed himself up through the opening to the ship's engine before finishing. “All we need to do is transfer it to another working ship and we’ll be out of here. It would be a big enough job, it would take a while, but it’s doable.”

It was the first time that Poe could feel his eyes light up with hope. They could get out of there.

“Stupid question, but the hyperdrive is Imperial approved?” He had to make sure before his hope was crushed.

But, to his surprise, Kylo just nodded in response. They were going to get off Jakku! He could go home! He could see his friends and the general and fly his x-wing around D’Qar.

He could show Finn the Rebel Base, show him the forests and beautiful greenery of the mountains, show Finn his new home-

“Who’s Finn?”

Eyes glared in Kylo’s direction, who only responded with a smirk.

“You Jedi are noisy Hutt-Spawn, you know that, right?”

The smirk on the others face grew, or was it a smile? Poe couldn’t tell, all he now knew was a raised eyebrow from Kylo meant he had to spill his secret.

“Not a Jedi, Poe. You know that. Now, what happened?”

He took a deep breath, not sure whether or not to explain the whole story. Kylo had known about his initial feelings for the stormtrooper, saying how he was one of the most beautiful people he had ever laid eyes on and how devastated he was whenever he talked about leaving their troop.

“I told Fn-2187 last night, I asked him to stay…”

He was expecting Kylo to ask for more details, but his surprise, his smirk just turned softer, taking Poe’s hand in his own.

“I told him I didn’t want to call him by a number because he’s so much more than that. I wouldn’t use a name given to him by those bastards in the Empire.” Another deep breath in, he couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh or cry. Finn had stolen his heart, not like his freedom was stolen from the Empire. “ I’ve been thinking about it for days, what I should say to him, how to tell him that he means more to me than anyone I’ve ever met. I couldn’t call him Fn any longer, so I told him I’d call him Finn…”

There were tears in his eyes now. All he could do was picture Finn’s life before meeting them: forced to kill and follow the orders of people who had never known hardship their entire lives. Phasma had told him before how the Empire worked, how anyone who voiced an opinion that slightly differed from those in charge would face nothing but drastic consequences.

“I told him that I loved him, Kylo. I couldn’t let him leave and not have him know…” He wiped a tear falling down his cheek. He refused to let his emotions get the better of him, especially now, the burning sun scalding his skin every second he was exposed to it.

He would have to save his open heart for another time, feeling his comm link vibrating in his hip pocket and taking it out to answer. Tears were wiped from his face, coughing up the last of his sadness before opening the connection.

“What’s happening, Rose?”

The static coming from the unit was great, but he could hear the woman’s hurried voice within it.

“It’s the supply run, they ran into problems,” there was a lingering pause before she finally said it: “Finn and BB8, they’re missing…”

-

Hux had returned to them, battered and bruised with too many blood stains on his skin to count. The usual dark bags under his eyes had transformed into blues and greens and purples, a disgusting sight to look at.

He had explained what had happened, how some scavengers had come up to them on their way to the market demanding they take the BB unit. When the two insisted that the droid stay with them, chaos ensued.

They had beaten Hux to a pulp, and taken Finn, hearing that the Empire had a high price for his capture. It must have been rumoured amongst the natives about their escape from the star destroyer and were now wanted criminals. 

But, if Poe was being honest with himself, they had always been wanted criminals. 

This was different, he told himself, they had BB-8, Poe’s companion and friend, a droid with information that couldn’t fall out of their hands. They also had Finn, which made his blood boil.

How dare they do this.

How dare they destroy the stormtrooper’s hope as soon as it began. 

A hand fell on his shoulder, gentle and sympathetic. He didn’t realise how hunched he was over the table in front of him, covered in maps and weapons they could use to find their friends. 

“Poe,” the voice was faint but deep, gentle yet firm. There was something comforting about Kylo’s voice, knowing exactly what the Force user was going to offer, but couldn’t, not yet.

“I just need a plan, that’s all” Poe admitted. Rose had already interjected Imperial frequencies to find out where the trade would take place, a junkyard not far west form their current location. 

As a group, they tended to stay away from Niima Outpost, knowing there would be imperial spies there, but now, they had no choice.

Poe glanced around the room at his team: a former slave, a banished Imperial General, an exiled Stormtrooper Captain and a failed Jedi in search of a defected stormtrooper and BB unit.

He didn’t have a plan, but he didn’t need one.

They just had to find his droid and Finn.

-

Finn couldn’t open his eyes, the ringing in his skull was causing him too much pain to even move.

His body ached, certain parts stung were his skin was open and exposed to the sand and dirt around him. He knew if he looked, he would see the blood that covered his clothes and skin. If he made it to tomorrow, he was sure that his skin would be bruised and swollen.

A cough escaped his dry throat, he was in desperate need of water. The moisture in his mouth was completely absent and a wave of panic swept over him.

He was going to die like this, chained to a pole in some desert village full of chattering people that didn’t care for him, covered in blood and sweat, slow and painful.

His eyelids wrinkled as he squeezed them tightly before gradually opening them, little by little. It took longer than he had hoped for his sight to adjust, white light shining before him. It burned for a few minutes, to look around in the glaring light, adapting to the brightness.

He was right about the people, a crowd of all different species wandered around a market of some sort in front of the post he was chained to, the metal of links scalding his naked wrists. He was wrong about the village, though, it seemed more like a junkyard, filled with all sorts of clutter and debris being sold in the nearby market stalls.

He groaned in pain, only last night did he see a future of happiness, doing what was right in this damn war with people he could finally consider a family.

Only yesterday did he realise what he meant to someone, the first time in his short life that he had felt that someone cared and wanted him around. Poe had said it himself, that he meant some to this rebellion, to his team, to him…

All that was gone.

As soon as he was free he was going to be taken back to an Imperial Base, taken and beaten for his betrayal to the Empire by the people who he trained with, who he _grew_ with. They would kill him for deserting them, for abandoning their cause.

The memories of his capture had vanished from his mind, he couldn’t for the life of him remember anything about them, what species they were, what kind of hair they had (if any), what their voice even sounded like? Had they taken Hux or BB-8? Or was it just him to face certain doom...

That’s when he heard it, that rattling of the very chain that tied him down to his current position, someone was here to take him to meet his demise. His heart only began to beat faster as the panic settled in, this was it, this was the end. His body began to tremble, sweating even more than before. 

This was it, he told himself. He had done things he was proud of: saving the Rebellion squadron, helping them salvage parts, Maker, he had even learnt about the Force whenever he had spare time, joining Kylo Ren when he meditated or listening to Poe Dameron’s tales of the Rebellion’s golden years-

Poe.

He would never see Poe again.

The rattling halted and he closed his eyes. If anything, his life was ending on a high note, spending his last night with a man who believed in him, who wanted to see him strive.

Who he loved, and who loved him back.

“Hey,” came a hushed voice from behind him. “Just follow me and I can sneak you out.”

Finn eyes shot open, the voice was unrecognizable, but he didn’t have a choice. Poe had mentioned about Rebel spies being across the galaxy, but doubted that there would be any on Jakku.

Besides, no one in the Alliance would know who he was. This person was either his saviour or this was a trap, and he prayed to the Maker that it wasn’t the latter.

They put their hand under his arm, helping him stand up without stumbling over, hoping it wouldn’t catch the attention of passers-by. It didn’t, to his surprise, and he came to the conclusion that this sort of stuff must have just been normal for whoever spent their time in this disgusting village.

He didn’t look at his liberator, too busy watching his feet, hoping not to trip and cause a commotion. If this was a recuse, he didn’t want to be the reason it failed.

They didn’t walk for long, only for a few minutes to a little tent on the very edge of the market, right by the wire fence that kept creatures out or scavengers in. A few people had caught Finn’s eye, but went about their business, saying and doing nothing to stop them. The more he thought about it, the more it should worry him, yet, he didn’t dwell on that thought, he didn’t have time to.

It wasn’t until they made it inside that he could feel safe, that he could finally his heart slow, that-

“WHHEEEOOOOOOOOOOO” came the sound of an all too familiar droid, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing , what he saw. Poe’s orange and white BB unit raced towards him, spilling all sorts of nonsense in binary that he was still trying to learn.

“He said that you’re with the Rebellion, that you saved his master…” He could hear her voice more clearly now, it was soft and refined, there was something almost graceful about the way she spoke. 

He turned to face her, to properly look at the person who he owed his life to. She was not what he was expecting at all: tall, slim and far too pretty for a junkyard rat. Her brown hair was tied back into three separate buns with little strands that fell around her face. Her skin was covered in dust, dirt and oils of all kinds, as if it was a common thing for her.

“How did you find BB8?” His own voice was quiet, but grateful. He was so happy to see at least one of the team here so they could make it out alive. She had smiled back at him, watching the droid move around Finn in the same manner a hyperactive loth-cat would if they liked you enough.

“The people who took you took this little thing too,” She began, inching closer and kneeling before the two of them. “He was was in need of repairs when he was brought to Unkar Plutt, so I fixed him up.” 

She had fixed BB8, she had fixed Poe’s droid! He smiled, exposing his teeth, she had fixed the droid! He wanted to laugh, but instead he coughed, he was so excited he forgot about his dehydrated state.

“Do you just fix droids?” He managed to choke out. She raised an eyebrow in response, handing him the metal bottle that she must have retrieved from her bag moments ago. 

Finn was too thirsty for manners, grabbing the container out of her hands and opening his mouth wide to swallow every last bit of water she offered him.

“Actually,” He was only half paying attention to her, focusing on getting the glisting liquid into his mouth. “I fix all sorts of things: droids, speeders, ships-”

A crash from outside caught their attention. There was blaster fire before screaming and chaos began to ensue. Someone noticed that he wasn’t there, it wouldn’t be long before he would need to fight back.

The three of them rushed to the tents opening, peeking out through the split in the fabric. 

There were a group of (what like) smugglers and thieves, blindly pointing blaster rifles into smoke. Yells came from every corner of the junkyard, but none of the voices matched those of the Rebel team.

“Do you have any blasters in here?” he asked, heading back into the main area, searching through the makeshift shelves of what salveage was being kept here. He looked back at his new companion, making sure she wasn’t running, or worse: scared.

He finally found two heavy blaster from decades ago to use, checking to see if their powerpacks had anything in them before handing one of them to girl. 

“Use this…”

“Rey,” She said, taking the weapon from his hand, inspecting it for herself. He prayed that she was at least familiar with how those things worked.

“I’m Finn,” He began to explain. “I part of a Rebellion squadron called the Resistance lead by Poe Dameron. We’re working for General Leia Organa to take down the empire.”

She just stared at him, eyebrows raised once before he pushed past her, positioning himself at the tent’s entrance. 

“So you’ve done this sort of thing before?” She questioned, looking back down at the droid who, for whatever reason, kept by her side.

“Actually,” He chuckled, “I was a stormtrooper until a few weeks ago, officially joined the Rebel Alliance last night.”

He ignored her scream, her disbelief in what he had just told her. Instead he ran out, blaster in his hands aimed at the criminals firing in front of him, confidence and addrenional running through his body.

He would not let the empire take him, he would not let those crooks take him away from his friends, his family. He would fight for the wrong side no longer, he would fight for what was right, what was good for the galaxy.

Then, as if to answer his own prayers he heard Poe Dameron’s voice in the smoke:

“What did you do with my boyfriend, you bastards.”


	2. Friction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to quickly thank my wonderful gf @Whymethemusical for being a pet and reviewing this chapter for me. What a babe and a half.
> 
> Enjoy ch.2, aka Reylo meet-cute

Niima outpost was more of a junkyard than the market that had been described to him. All Poe could see was dirt and debris that covered the stalls, pieces of salvaged parts scattered amongst the ground outside of a worn down backhouse.

He glanced around; making sure those around him weren’t paying too much attention.

According to Rose’s findings, the Empire would only send two stormtroopers to collect Finn tomorrow morning. The smugglers would receive 5000 credits if they delivered the former stormtrooper to them, 6000 if the astromech was with him, and 8000 if he was alive.

If all went according to plan, they would never find him, nor even suspect that he was here. And they would never even think that Poe and his rebel troops were on this backwater planet.

They didn’t waste any time making their way to the location before the Empire could even make their move.

Opening his comm-link, he glanced over to a water tank, a single, large copper pipe protruding from it’s roof. Underneath, two of his team stood: Rose casually peering into the village whilst Hux leaned against the metal tank for balance.

“All units ready?” He whispered into the device.

“Black two and three, standing by,” came an answer from Rose, crouching down as she spoke.

“Black five, standing by,” came a second voice. He couldn’t see Phasma in the crowd of people around the concession stand, but he knew she was there.

“Black four is standing by,” came the final answer. He saw Kylo was mixed in with the crowd, blending in with the locals wearing his brown hooded robes which covered most of his appearance and hiding his mask.

This plan was in no way practised or rehearsed, they had barely talked about it together before they had gathered their weapons and left for Niima Outpost. If he was being honest with himself, Poe would have called this an utter mess, a delusional idea that would end in disaster if they weren’t careful.

“Poe,” a voice came from his comm-link. Hux sounded as if he had just tasted the bitterest fruit known to his species, but the scowl in his voice wasn’t new. “There are two humanoids to your right, one dressed in black, the other in brown.”

Hux’s manner hadn’t changed much since his days in the Empire, everything was precise details and orders, it had been beaten into him for so long that it must have felt utterly alien for him to act in any other fashion.

“Those are the men that attacked us,” he continued, barely audible through the static of their dated equipment. “They must be covering their faces so they don’t draw attention, not a wise decision if you ask me. They don’t seem to be armed at this moment, so we may actually succeed.”

Glancing to his right, Poe saw the thugs that Hux was talking about. As he was told, one was dressed in long black robes with a pair of goggles masking his eyes and some guard protecting his mouth. Poe scoffed, his attempts looked like a Darth Vader helmet, only made out of scrap and junk. The one dressed in brown looked no better, large pieces of old dark fabric wrapped around his head.

If anything, their clothing choices had only made them seem more humorous than dangerous. He chuckled to himself; he knew he shouldn’t underestimate them but their appearance only made them laughable.

He shouldn’t say it; it would jinx their chances-

“This should be easy,” he scoffed into his device, he should have regretted his choice of words instantly, but he knew better.

He began to stride over to the thieves, each step his grimace expression turned into a smirk. Those Hutt-spawn would just have to suffer for doing what they did.

They must have caught him staring, because they already started to scream at him, shouting all sorts of insults at him in teepospeak, probably telling him to leave and go back to his own planet (he thought, anyway, he wasn’t paying attention to them, they didn’t deserve it.)

“Hey,” he began, his grin opening to expose teeth. “Have you laser brains seen a BB astromech droid and an ex-stormtrooper around here?”

Of course, their answer had been to laugh at him, to snicker at his obvious interrogation of his friend’s whereabouts.

No matter, this is what they had planned for.

He raised up his blaster to meet one of their chests, the one wearing horribly jaded black garments. If they were in anyway shocked, their obscured faces couldn’t show it; only their own paces backwards gave away any feelings of distress.

“Wrong answer, boys.”

A small, metal sphere rolled by his feet, bowled from the tank where Rose and Hux were.

It was time.

Poe’s boot stomped down on the metal, smoke filling the air around them. The thugs started to cough, not expecting the dust that now surrounded them.

One of them also didn’t expect to be thrown to the sandy ground by Poe’s knuckles, but they were. He could hear the other scream for back up and call for something named “Plutt”.

He lifted his hand to his head, finger pointed before signalling forward giving the go-ahead for his team to start.

He presumed the first shots came from Phasma, bodies falling over after being stunned by her blaster. No one was as accurate as her, not even himself. He saw the silhouette of another body fall in the distance, the loud bangs from the machines ringing in his ears.

Without thinking, he took a second blaster from the holster by his belt, aiming them both at the thug on the ground.

“Now tell me,” he spat, “What did you do with my boyfriend, you bastards...”

-

Finn ran through crowds of people scrambling to flee the scene.

He had seen this kind of chaos before when he was apart of the empire. However, they would have never let people run like they did now.

Thankfully he hadn’t needed to use his own weapon yet. He had made a vow to himself to never hurt anyone unless it was absolutely necessary. He had made the others promise him that it would be ok, that he wouldn’t need to harm unless it was needed.

And he intended to keep it that way.

Even as someone began to chase him down, screaming at him that he should not be running free, he somewhat kept his vow of peace, pointing the blaster at his chaser and glared at him.

“Tell me where my friends are, or I will shoot.” He spat, every word coming out like a growl. He wouldn’t, he knew that the threat was only words, he just hoped his chaser didn’t see it like that.

The person in front of him was not human, a green mask covered their face, tubes connecting it to a dark coloured tank of some sort that was strapped to their chest.

Their red robes flashed before his eyes as soon as he was pushed back down to the ground and the side of the alien’s riffle collided with his chest and knocked the blaster out of his hand.

He wasn’t expecting the impact to hurt so much, clutching at the spot on his chest where the weapon had stricken, glaring back up at the person now pointing it to his forehead.

They barked out some sounds that Finn had never heard before. With every moment he was silent, the tip made closer contact with his head and the roars became louder and louder.

His own defence was out of reach, and he knew if he moved the other would shoot. His heart started to race, he should have thought this out more before he left Rey and-

The droid, it didn’t follow him. He had no idea where BB-8 went, or, where it was. He couldn’t let these bandits get a hold of it, Poe needed his droid back.

Yet he was trapped.

The creature crouching over him straightened their back to stand proudly at Finn’s defeat, knowing their prize wouldn’t escape that easily. They chuckled, keeping their blaster rifle aimed at Finn’s head. He was still worth something if he was dead, the Empire just wanted the traitor from themselves.

It would be a quick kill, Finn thought, at least he wouldn’t have to suffer.

Time seemed to slow down as the energy formed at the gun’s opening, his eyes squeezed shut know his time was over…

At least, that is what he thought.

Seconds passed and the blast still hadn’t hit him. His squinted open to see why his captor had taken mercy on him, but instead, he found that the shot had been frozen in motion only inches from his face.

He eyes opened wider, twisting his head back to see Kylo Ren, his palm wide in front of him and pacing towards the being who stood above Finn.

It was almost as soon as he saw him that the Force-wielder released the blast, firing it back into it shooter’s face and causing an explosion against the rusted copper of his mask. Finn raised an arm, shielding his eyes from the debris of the outburst, bits of metal flying past his face and scolding the little skin it touched.

A hand reached down to help him up, clad in black leather and open palm. Finn couldn’t help but smile as he took it, there was something about the Force that just fascinated him and the other had just used it to save him, something he considered an honour.

Grabbing Kylo’s hand, he pulled Finn up straight, letting him find his feet and balance.

“Am I not good enough to be rescued by the saber?” he jested, pointing at the dormant hilt at Kylo’s side. He had never seen it in action, even when the Force user trained. Part of him hoped he would finally get to see it today, but another voice told him that that would only lead to more trouble than they needed.

It was only when Kylo started to run did Finn realise that he had never let go of his hand. He didn’t question it, however, and started sprinting behind him trying to manoeuvre between the ground and the flowing fabric of the other’s dark cloak. They kept running through the smoke, darting around blaster bolts been fired and people trying to snatch Finn for themselves.

It wasn’t until they had reached a small kiosk that they could hide behind that Finn released a breath that he didn’t realise he was holding: he had never been this important before. To the Empire he had been another number, now he was a wanted traitor. He couldn’t quite name the feeling that boiled deep in his belly, a somehow mixture of pride and guilt, determination but anxiety.

A bomb exploded not far from them, but it didn’t seem to have an effect on their attention. Grabbing a comm-link from his pocket, Kylo positioned himself at the edge of the obstruction before switching it on.

“Back leader,” he shouted, voice muffled through the metal of his helmet and trying to get his message across all the noise surrounding them. “Black six is secure.”

Finn couldn’t hear Poe’s response over those sounds of chaos surrounding them.

He was surprised, however, when the device was handed to him, Kylo urging him to take it so he could keep watch from the shelter.

“Finn?!” The voice from the speaker shouted, filled with relief yet disbelief as if he couldn’t be fully calm until he heard Finn’s voice again. “Are you ok, buddy?”

“Poe? Poe Dameron?!” Despite what was happening around him, the universe seemed to halt at that exact moment. Finn could cry just from hearing Poe’s voice again, his heart was racing and his smile couldn’t be wider.

He hoped the other felt the same way.

“Finn…” There was trembling in his voice, sunken cheeks probably covered in tears. “I thought…I thought I lost you…”

Nothing could distract him from the voice coming from the speaker in front of him: not Kylo spying from the edge of the kiosk, pointing blasters and shooting at those who came close, the explosions being thrown at them or the roar of the thieves who had lost their possession.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easy, Dameron.”

-

The more Hux thought about it, the more he shouldn’t be smirking like did everytime a shot hit its target and another body came crashing down. However, it was a nice change from the crinkled scowl that he often wore.

Closing one eye, he focused his vision through the electroscope on his blaster rifle. It was the same model he had trained with back as a child, an older model than the F-11D blasters that the Empire used now.

Another pull on the trigger, another body down and another smirk that was out of place with his accomplices. Even Phasma had some remorse for those she killed, confessing her guilt every so often to Rose or Poe during night time watch.

Not him, though.

It had been made very clear to him that those he killed deserved their fate.

“Hux!” Rose called from her current crouched position. “I just got word from Poe that BB-8 is here now, Finn says he’s been fixed.”

“Impossible,” he muttered to himself. He had seen the thugs electrocute the droid himself, it should have completely destroyed the software. How it was now rolling around was beyond him.

“We need to be on the lookout,” she yelled, her vision focusing on she could see through the macrobinoculars. “He said that BB’s with a girl, a scavenger from around here, says she fixed them up real good.”

He looked up at the water tank that he was leaning against, it would probably be easier to see the two from up there, above the smog and chaos. It would be much easier, strategically speaking, to spot the droid from there.

“Rose!” He cried out, waving his hand in a way that would get her over.

She must have been thinking the same thing, for as soon as she was over, she interlocked her fingers to give him a boost up. Hoisting himself up was a challenge in itself, the pain running through his bruised arms was horrendous.

It wasn’t as bad, however, as pulling Rose up.

She was in no way heavy for a humanoid, but the pressure caused by her pull left him in agony. It felt as if his skin was being torn apart every second she held on.

But, he ignored it. It was what he was trained to do.

“Are we to shoot the girl?” Hux asked, making sure he understood the orders correctly. Find the droid, get it back; he got that. Kill the scavenger? That part wasn’t as clear.

The two laid across the tanks surface, stomachs pressed against old, rigged metal. It was, as Hux predicted, much easier to see their surrounding from this point, Rose could now see over the crowds with ease.

“No harming the girl, leader’s orders.” Rose was stern in her response, yet she wasn’t phased by his question, she was after all, quite used to it.

Rose had known Hux since Dameron’s little project began, the project that eventually would have them calling themselves “The Resistance”, a small group of Rebel fighters who didn’t mind doing the dirty work that other rebels kept well away from. Rose was the first person to join, offering her talents and knowledge to try and take down the Empire like she had always wanted. At the time, she was young and holding onto all these idealistic dreams that she had as a child on Hays Minor.

She remembered that not even a week after the whole thing started, Armitage was brought to the resistance medics by Kes Dameron, Poe’s father, after being found unconscious on an escape pod near whatever planet the Rebellion was occupying at the time. She remembered him being so distraught at being in the enemy’s base, that his father, Brendol had abandoned him, that he was alone…

She glanced over at the man who, as a boy, marched up to General Leia and swore to do whatever he could to take down the Empire and, with that, getting revenge on the man who had deceived him. She remembered how the tears rolled down his face, his top lip twisted and his hands shaking, how famished he looked despite his determination to stay strong.

So much has changed since then.

“Rose! By the archway!”

She halted her recollection, twisting her head and adjusting her macrobinoculars to the entrance of the junkyard, where, as the other implied, was where they found them:

The droid, a white and orange astromech followed by the scavenger girl, were running through the pandemonium caused. Whoever this girl was, she ran almost as fast as BB, carrying a long staff in one hand and her other fist clenched tightly. Lengths of thin beige fabric swept behind her as she called out to the droid.

Poe had ordered them to not only retrieve the droid but find this girl and make sure he got to talk to her before they could even think about leaving. All they could do now was alert Dameron about her whereabouts, let him seek out the girl and get his droid back-

Both Rose and Hux froze, something large and clammy and wrapped around their ankles, tight enough to stop their blood flow and began to drag them from their current position atop the tank. Their hands tried to grab onto something, anything, to stop their bodies being trailing towards the sand, skin grazing against the rough, rusty surface.

They both hit the sandy ground with a loud “thud”, but they were barely there before the same sticky skin that was around their ankles found its way to their necks, yanking them up to meet the creature’s level.

Whatever this thing was, he wasn’t pleasant to look at. Skin piled around his neck, or, lack thereof. His irritated expression didn’t help his grotesque features that all seemed to ooze into one, pale blob.

“Who are you?” He spat, a foul smell escaping his mouth. He was hideous, so grisly that his voice seemed more ferocious than what it probably was.

Hux glanced over to Rose, who was struggling just as much as he was, legs dangling and hands clawing at the creature's meaty fingers, his grip too strong for their feeble attempts. He didn’t think the two of them would end up like this, feet dangling only inches from the ground and he prayed that one of the other members would see them in such distress.

The tighter this man’s grasp, the more Hux and Rose struggled, their legs flailing, trying to kick the man’s armoured chest. However, they tried in vain, their legs too short to even make contact.

“Where,” he hissed, pulling them closer towards his face, eyes glaring into their souls. “Where have you taken my hostage, scum-”

He choked, coughing on his own word, making sounds that were barely audible and comprehensible. His fists opened wide, letting Rose and Hux fall to the ground, the two of them grunting in pain as they made contact.

  


The man’s now free hands were trying to pull at the invisible force wrapped around his neck, the abundant amount of skin seeming no different to its normal state that pooled around his shoulder.

Rose turned her head to face the voice that had spoken, catching Hux doing the same in the process.

She shouldn’t have surprised to see him walk towards them, arm outstretched and slowly marching towards the creature in question. He was angry, which wasn’t good, he would do everything in power to all but kill this man.

Kylo Ren glared at the junk boss under his mask. How dare this creature even dare touch his team members like he did. He deserved to be gasping for air and barely holding on to dear life like he was now. How dare he think he could get away with such shit.

This creature was weak-minded, however, it became very clear that it was easy to get inside his head, find information on where rations were and what ships he had within his ownership that they could ‘barter’ for (if Jedi mind tricks actually counted as bartering, he reminded himself. There was no way he would buy anything off this…thing for more than a single credit).

Searching around his prisoner’s mind, he found a name: Unkar Plutt, a crolute who spends his days scamming people to risk their lives collecting scrap in the Jakku desert, taking advantage of those who needed help most.

Bastard.

If he weren’t needed to contact the empire, informing them that his thugs had made a mistake thinking that one of the locals was the missing stormtrooper, he would have killed him on the spot.

 _That’s not the Jedi_ way, a voice range in his head, quiet but clear, yet, he just ignored it.

He was no a Jedi, that was decided a long time ago.

He didn’t need to obey any code or follow certain rules on how to act. Besides, he couldn’t even yield a saber, not until it was truly necessary.

 _I am no Jedi_ , he told himself once again before clenching his outstretched hand, tightening the invisible grip around Plutt’s enclosed neck. He repeated it again: _I am no Jedi_ , the anger that made his blood boil only grew, he knew he was tapping into the darkside, but that didn’t scare him, not anymore.

He was concentrating all his energy into not killing this monster, peering into the creature’s mind for any information that could help their cause.

He was too focused, so fixated on the task at hand, he didn’t notice her run at him, spear in her hands and a growl in her throat.

“Kylo!” He heard someone cry, but it was too late. The staff struck his head: releasing Plutt from his grip, letting him fall to the ground. He didn’t even get to look at her before he hit the ground himself, face falling directly into the sand-filled floor.

Maker, he hated sand, but, now he hated this person even more.

He twisted his body to face the laser brain that thought they could take down Kylo Ren. He was surprised to see her.

Her, a girl with a small frame, wielding a staff that was longer than the height of her own body. She was confident in her stance, her shoulders squared and feet firm on the ground.

He didn’t have time for this, not now.

Any other time, he would fight her, give her a fair chance at a battle, but she was only in the way now. They had a plan, steps to follow and this girl with dirty skin and three separate buns of hair was now disrupting that.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she called out.

Fool.

She should be.

But she didn’t move. There was not even a hint of fear within her. Did she not realise that he was a monster?

“Leave this outpost,” she yelled again, grabbing his attention. He knew should get this over and done with, keep her from suffering.

He held out his hand, channelling the force through him so he could knock her out, so she could peacefully drift into a deep sleep.

He didn’t think that there would be a problem.

The more he pushed the more she seemed to reject his powers, block the force and pushing away.

He was dumbfounded. No one had ever resisted him before, not since...

She ran towards him, her staff firmly gripped beneath white knuckles, a loud growl escaping her mouth 

He had a single second to think about it, whether or not use his ultimate weapon, but decided against it. Just because this girl could resist his powers didn’t mean she was stronger than he was. He had experience with fighting against those with weapons when he was unarmed, and his confidence didn’t fail him.

It wasn’t even that he was unarmed, he did have a blaster attached to his belt. But that just seemed unfair, to use it against this scavenger, the staff being her only weapon. He pitied her, if he was being honest, think she could both defy the force and his strength. 

She was right in front of him, swinging her weapon over one shoulder and back down to hit him. He instinctively moved to her side, grabbing her weapon in the process.

This girl would not get the better of him again.

She fought well, swinging her staff around him trying to catch him off guard. She seemed skilled, she would make a good rebel fighter, determined and brave, it was too bad she was fighting against him.

They ended up locked in a stance, her staff on its side between them, both of her hands in a forceful grip as she pushed against Kylo’s own strengthful hold. He could see her glaring at him through his mask, her expression filled with rage.

“Why do you feel so desperate to protect that junkboss, girl?” He asked, careful for it not to sound like a growl. He could barely manage that, a low gnarr present in his voice.

“Plutt is the only man who knows where my parents are!” She screamed, pushing the staff back and pushing him over. Despite the softness of the sand, he could feel the strike of pain from his landing’s impact. Glancing up at her, he stumbled to get back to his feet, only to be pushed back down by the end of staff.

“You kill him and I’ll never find them, you monst-”

A loud spark of electricity and the girl was down, her knees buckling and her body collapsing to the ground beneath her. Kylo glanced around, hoping to see where the flicker had come from.

The last person he expected it to come from was Poe’s astromech, but yet, there it stood.

“Breeeeeewwwrrrrp!”

“I thought Poe’s orders were to not harm the girl, BB?” He said, pushing himself off the ground and back to his feet, standing tall beside the spherical droid beneath him.

“Mroooohh…” BB-8 lowered it's head, leaving Kylo to chuckle. “Breep Breo?”

“Sure thing BB,” he replied, bending down to scoop the girl in his arms, lifting her up and letting the strips of fabric from her outflow behind him, listening to the droid as it spoke to him. “but I doubt she’ll say yes to you after what just happened there.”

-

Rey awoke with a painful ringing in her skull in a room she had never seen before. The metal walls looked aged and filthy, something she was rather used to when she repaired ships. Even the blanket that she lay on looked worn; despite it comfort again the hard floor.

She didn’t like this feeling, being in an unknown space and not recalling how she got there. It has happened a number of times before, but those were memories she didn’t like to recall.

She slowly sat up, rubbing her temples with her thumbs, trying in vain to ease her discomfort.

“I see you’re awake, scavenger.”

This voice, unknown yet so casual, should have frightened her. There was something trusting about him, however, something she couldn’t quite place.

“BB told me all about you, Rey: how you fixed him up after his shock damage and helped my Finn escape from those thugs.” He said, walking over towards her.

Crouching down to her level, she got a better look at him, like the gritty stubble that covered his jawline and the worn leather of his deep brown jacket and-

That symbol, patched onto his left arm. It was old and thorn yet it’s meaning was whole clear.

“...You’re with the rebellion?”

The man chuckled, running his hand through his locks of curled brown hair. She noticed how a few strands were already grey, something she found odd since he really didn’t look that old.

“I am, yes,” he smirked, extending his free arm to her. “My name is Poe, Poe Dameron.”

That name sounded all too familiar, but she couldn’t place where from. She just pushed it to the back of her mind, for now, focusing on shaking his hand instead.

“Finn told me you could fix ships?”

That name, Finn also sounded familiar, something she noticed the first time he had mentioned it. She tried repeating it in her head again and again before giving up; it was probably just a name passed around the junkyard.

“What do you remember, Rey?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him with confusion all over her face. All she could do was shake her head in response.

“Not much, I’m afraid.”

She was expecting him to say something, but instead, he just smiled, offering her his hand and pulling Rey to her feet.

The metal floor didn’t sound stable, walking on it just caused it to creek beneath her feet. She walked with light steps, following Poe Dameron as he lead her out of whatever room she was staying in through the corridors of the ship, a ship she recognized.

“Did you steal this off Plutt?” She asked, crossing her arm and furrowing her eyebrows. However, the man just kept walking, trying to conceal the laughter that battled to escape.

“No,” he managed to blurt out through accidental chuckles. “No, we bought it, don’t worry!”

“But why would you buy such garbage?”

That was when he stopped, smiling as he turned to face her. The docking ramp behind him was already open, the hot sun beaming in through the entrance and glowing around his form.

“This,” he explained, raising his hand to rest it on the ceiling. “This is no ordinary garbage. This is the millennium falcon, best hunk of junk in the entire galaxy.” He couldn’t control his smile: pearly, white teeth on full display. “This is the same Corellian freighter that Han Solo once flew, he’s been looking for it. Though I never thought it’d actually be here on Jakku.”

“Han Solo, the smuggler?”

There was a laugh in response, but not from Poe. She could see someone climb up the ramp, dark skin and wide smile.

Him.

It was him, from the junkyard, the man who Plutt’s thugs had taken for a credit ransom from the empire. He looked...better, to put it nicely. Before, his skin was rough and his breath was coarse, but now, now he looked at ease.

She noticed how bright his eyes were, a stark contrast to the bruises on the skin around his lids. There was a glimmer of hope that flashes in his deep brown eyes, similar to when he heard the first blaster shots of the riot back in Niima outpost.

She recalled what he said to as she glanced his way. Finn, his name was Finn, he was a rebel fighter and this was his leader, Poe Dameron.

She watched Poe put his arm around the other man’s waist, pulling him closer towards him. It was weird; this kind of affection was never seen on Jakku.

“Glad to see you’re awake, Rey,” said Finn, smiling at her direction. He seemed so different to the man she had met before. “Did Poe offer you the job yet?”

Rey only blinked in response, furrowing her brows in her confusion. She had a job, of sorts. She worked for Plutt, the blobfish. The must have mistaken her for someone else.

Poe, however, chuckled, resting his head on the other’s shoulder, the connection was like something out of holobook, sweet yet casually comfortable.

“What are you talking about?” Rey finally interjected, not breaking her own stern look. The two didn’t change their expression, however, just kept smiling her way.

“Rey,” Poe began pulling the other closer to him, a smirk forming as one hand was draped over the other man’s shoulder. “Finn here tells me that you fix ships. Think you can fix this one?”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your wonderful feedback on the last chapter, it was wonderful to see that so many of you liked it! I didn't think many would actually like this, but, gosh, I was really surprised <3 Thank you also for being patient with me and my slow writing!


	3. Believer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is still sceptical of the Force, how it works and if Kylo Ren really is as strong as Finn says he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> First I would like to take my time to thank the wonderful [DaisyFlo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daisyflo/pseuds/Daisyflo) for pushing me to keep at my work and distracting me with vine compilations and silly Vampire Au's (in fairness, we do it to each other!) I would also like to thank my wonderful girlfriend [Whymethemusical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whymethemusical) who still listens to me ramble on about this AU and will beta it for me despite barely like Star Wars!
> 
> Second I want to thank each and every one of you who left comments and Kudos, you really make this all worthwhile!
> 
> Now without further ado, please enjoy chapter 3 <3

Rey had learnt two things so far during her week with Poe’s rebel crew.

The first was that she surprisingly didn’t miss the junkyard. She didn’t lament for the sound of Unkar Plutt’s screams or for the village gossip or even the portion packets. No, she was quite content working for Poe Dameron, fixing the Millennium Falcon along with BB-8 (who was probably the most interesting droid she had ever met).

The second was that these people had a weird and unhealthy obsession with “the force”.

Rey had only ever heard stories of the Jedi and the force, how they once looked over the galaxy, keeping peace and protecting the innocent.

She didn’t think it actually existed.

When it came to mealtimes, Rey would still work on the ship, wishing to eat alone at a later time, but often found herself staring at the rebel group, sitting in a circle around a fire with their hand joined and praying to the “energy field created by all living things” and how “it surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.”

Sometimes, she would scoff at them, wondering how they could believe such stories to be true.

Then again, sometimes she just watched, wishing she had had that kind of belief in a greater good in this world: that she didn’t know that her days were hers and that was it, nothing was controlling her, influencing her, looking out for her...

Instead, she sat atop the Millennium Falcon, watching the sunset far into the Jakku desert, the team of rebel fighters have finished their prayers and began to eat their own food.

“Wrrrpp!” Came a noise from behind her. She didn’t have to turn around to know it was the astromech that wanted to talk with her. She was surprised every time the droid wasn’t around it’s master, that it didn’t follow Poe around like a lost ewok.

“Hey there, BB,” she said, rubbing its head as if it was a small animal. “Come to keep me company?”

“Weoh!”

She chuckles at the droid, it was the most peculiar thing, being as sweet as a jogan fruit when it wanted to be, but on the other hand, it could be as a deadly as when it shocked Rey unconscious not even a few days ago.

“Weerp?” It asked, twisting its magnetic head to face her.

“She won’t be finished for a while, I’m afraid,” she replied, rubbing her hand against the metal roof of the ship she sat on. “She took a fair amount of damage, poor thing needs a lot of repairing.”

“Merrp...” moaned the droid, lowering its head. She had to admit, she did enjoy the company that the droid offered her.

“Hey, she’ll be ok. She’s in good hands,” she promised, shyly smiling toward the distance. She watched as the rebels talked with each other, sharing pieces of food from imperial ration boxes whilst still sharing stories and ideas. 

She presumed.

“Do you know what they’re talking about?”

The droid stood still and straightened up listened to the what was being said amongst the circle.

“Breeep Brooo!”

She sighed heavily, arching her back further so she could lean her arms against her knees.

“Do they ever shut up about the force?” She asked. She couldn’t get over how all their hope had revolved around this one religion.

BB8 responded with some reference to Kylo Ren, something she shouldn’t have scoffed at, but she did, rolling her eyes at his name.

“Kylo doesn’t talk to me, remember?”

It wasn’t like she was being paranoid, he had gone out his way to avoid her even if she was to walk by him. Finn had speculated that it was because she had almost beat him during their standoff at Niima Outpost, the first to have done so in a while, but she couldn’t help but feel like there was something more to it.

When he was near her, she could feel an overwhelming feeling of distrust and jealousy, emotions she found all too confusing. She wasn’t jealous of anything he was, and everything he had she too now had access to.

It was almost like those feeling weren’t even her own.

She never dwelled on it, though. It wasn’t that she hated him, but there was only so much energy she could waste on Kylo Ren.

Standing up carefully, she called BB8 to her side, knowing she had spent too much time already thinking and not enough doing what she was being paid to do.

“Come on, let’s get back to work.”

-

“This ship is a piece of garbage, Finn. I don’t know why they keep insisting it’s the galaxy’s finest”

Finn chuckled as he wrapped the bacta patch around her arm. She had taken a hard hit after falling off the falcon earlier that day, she had been distracted and tripped on a loose wire. 

She was lucky she hadn’t broken or fractured anything like he had thought she might of. She had a great resilience to pain and discomfort, better than anyone else did around them. She was still covered in bruises and grazes but it did not hinder her work and her ability to do it.

She was a junkrat, a garbage picker who had survived so long on her own accord, and Finn couldn’t have admired her more. She had grown up with no guidance (except that of Plutt’s, something he wouldn’t have counted as nurturing), yet, she was still such a gentle soul, caring and compassionate. 

It wasn’t fair if he was being honest. Like himself, she had never had a childhood, never had any clear path growing up. Most people, that kind of thing would mess them up, completely fuck with their minds. He thought to Phasma, to Hux, to Kylo…

“Tell me about Poe.” Her voice caught him off guard, he hadn't expected her to talk to him about anything other than her distaste of the falcon or how it was a “piece of junk” or similar. “Like, how did you meet him and the rest of these guys?” 

He paused for a moment, smiling at her curiosity. She hadn’t asked anything like this before, her speech was always in the present, never in the past. 

“Did Poe tell you about the Star Destroyer?” He asked, trying to figure out where exactly to start.

She shook her head. She knew what a Star Destroyer was, for sure, she just lacked their connection to it.

“Right,” He began. “Well, Poe and the rest of the resistance have been after something for a while-”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you, Rey!” He chuckled, shaking his own head. Putting down the rest of his medical supplies, he continued: 

“They snook on board an Imperial III class Star Destroyer that some high ranking officials were on in order to get-” He looked at her, and she, in return, raised an eyebrow back. “-stuff. Things didn’t all go according to plan and they got caught and were made prisoners, which is where I met them.”

“You were a stormtrooper, right?”

Finn grimaced, but only for a second. Poe had been quick to tell Rey how he, a former stormtrooper for the empire, had recused him like a damsel in distress (which, Finn knew, he was was not, and the story wasn’t as romantic as he made it out to be). He didn't like his past, how his life only until weeks ago had served a regime that caused nothing but harm to innocent lives. 

At least now he had more control over the fight he wanted to take part in. 

“Yeah,” he said shyly, trying to keep his sigh as silent as possible. “I was a stormtrooper. I met them while Poe was being interrogated. The rest of them were in holding blocks, waiting for there own turn, except for BB8, who was off causing trouble elsewhere.

“I found Poe first when I was told to transfer him back to the holding block, but I couldn’t just do that. Poe was injured, very badly and I couldn’t let them hurt him anymore…”

“So you helped him?” Rey asked. She had been so still, leaning in so close to hear his story. “And the rest of the team?”

“Yeah,” he sighed in return, a faint smile on his face beginning to appear. “I broke them out. We took some trooper uniforms and looked for BB8, Poe was really insistent that we couldn’t leave without him, that he was the one with the information that they needed.

“We found the droid eventually, and we stole a shuttle right under their noses. We were lucky, it was fully stocked and no one seemed to care when we told some random troopers that we needed to “transport the droid” to Brendol Hux. Then again, Jedi mind tricks will do that!” Finn winked at Rey, he could only think fondly of the first moment that he saw the force in use with his very eyes. “It was pretty cool.”

Rey smiled lightly in response, he wasn't sure whether she was fascinated with his tale or just politely wanting to continue.

“We crashed on Jakku just after the Empire realised that they were gone and that I had helped. They haven’t found us yet, but the incident at Niima was a close call.”

“BB8 told me you didn't want to stay with them.” 

Finn blinked. He knew she had become close with the droid over the past number of days, but telling her that? That wasn’t fair. BB was a sly droid when it wanted to be if it was a sentient creature he might have even called it cheeky.

“He’s right,” He admitted, pushing his disappointment in the droid to the back of his head. “You have to remember, Rey, I’m still ashamed of my time in the Empire, what I did, what I could have done…” 

He didn’t notice her move her arm, the one recently bandaged, wrap around his shoulder, pulling him close. He didn't realise that that was what he needed, not to eliminate his guilt (that could only be done by himself) but to just comfort him for a moment.

“Poe didn’t see me as a Stormtrooper, he saw me as a person. He was the first person who had ever done that, who looked at me as if I meant something…”

“What about Finn?” She asked, her body was still embracing his, holding him in a compassionate grasp. “Rose told me that you didn’t have a name before?”

He pulled away, giving them back some space to breath, to look at her as he explained.

“My number was FN-2187, it was the only name they ever gave me, but Poe didn’t like it. It took him a while, to ask to call me something different, but he did. I was going to leave the group, try and keep running from the Empire, but Poe essentially begged me to stay, to help... 

“At first he said it was because they needed someone with my training, I was the only one who had any sort of medical training...then, he started crying. I didn’t know what was wrong, I didn’t know what to do. Before I knew it, he was holding my hand, pouring his heart out, telling me how much he loved me.”

He couldn’t help but let a tear fall down his cheek. Meeting the resistance had been filled with firsts, first time having a name, first time working without a helmet, the first time someone had confessed their love for him…it became too much at times. Things were never so personal before, he would just have to get used to the way things were going to be.

“You don't have to continue,” she said, her hand reaching across to his shoulder, gentle not to push too far. “Tell me about the other’s instead.”

Wiping a tear from his cheeks, he decided to how to begin. He didn’t want to seem weak, full of sensitive emotions, he needed to continue without letting on how impactful these past few weeks had really been to him.

“What do you want to know?”

He could see Rey’s face twist, trying to ask something of use, anything at all to get a better insight into the team.

“I don’t know?” She pondered, her eyes darting across the room to try and bring something to the topic. 

And she found it, an E-11D blaster rifle with a chromium finish in the corner of the room:

“The chest-guard that Phasma wears, where did she get it? From what I can tell its pure chromium, which, I know for a fact that there is not a lot of around.”

Finn smiled. She was so observant when it came to their material, the resources they did and didn’t have, what could be sold and what price was right for their partings. Of course, she would notice the only piece of proper armour owned by any of them, the silver breastplate that Phasma wore over a black shirt, now only covered her chest, protecting her lungs and heart.

“It was part of her uniform, back when she served as a Stormtrooper captain,” He started. “She was actually my captain for a while before I was transferred to the med bay. You’re right about the chromium, she salvaged it from Emperor Palpatine's Naboo yacht after she was recruited”

“If she was a stormtrooper captain, wouldn’t she have full body armour? Like the other ‘troopers?”

He chuckled, he couldn’t believe this girl, so quick to think and observe.

“Yeah, she did. I don’t know the whole story, but from what I do, she was left on Mustafar after she had a…disagreement with Brendol Hux. He left her there as punishment, but she used the other pieces of her armour to build tools and shield herself from the planet’s environment. She survived though, and now, she serves us.”

“What was the disagreement about?”

Rey was so inquisitive when she desired to be. She displayed no shame in her questioning of Phasma’s past, or anyone’s else's for that matter. He considered, for a moment, not delivering further into her story as if it was his own to tell.

But, he pondered, it would probably be better to tell her now, save her the trouble of asking Phasma on a day she did not wish to speak (which was almost everyone).

“You see…Maker, how do I even begin to explain this?” Finn ran a hand through the little amount of hair he had, bitten nails scratching the skin at the back of his neck. “The force is really important to the Emperor, both the old and new one. Each of them had an apprentice, with Emperor Palpatine it was Darth Vader, and Snoke wanted someone to live up to Vader’s infamous reputation.” He described, his hand never moving from it’s current position. “So he took in a boy, no older than 10, to become his successor. Some say the boy was captured, some say he came to Snoke on his own accord. This kid was strong in the darkside of the force, but he escaped from the Empire’s grasp after a few years. 

“No one knows what happened to him, how he managed to get away or where he went. Brendol blamed his son, Armitage-”

“Armitage, as in our Armitage Hux, right?” Asked Rey, her eyebrow now raised.

“Exactly. So after this incident, Brendol banished his son into the unknown regions of space on an escape pod that barely worked.

“Phasma was close with Hux, they had been friends with each other for as long as they’ve worked together. Phasma argued that her friend didn’t deserve the punishment he got, saying that the boy was never his responsibility. But Brendol doesn’t like to be disagreed with, so she ended up on Mustafar.”

Despite her silence, Rey’s expression carried thousands of emotions, especially that of rage and anger.

Finn sighed, she was so caring, too much almost. If she had the chance, she'd probably be marching up to the Grand Vizier at this very moment, teaching him a thing or two about abandonment and his cruel treatment of those under his leadership.

He felt an overwhelming urge to change the subject, and quickly. He could see the heat rise in her face. Maker help anyone who feels they can cross her. 

“You and Kylo don’t speak do you?”

She froze at that, maybe he had changed it to the wrong topic.

But, he had to admit, he had been curious about their relationship. Rey had bonded with everyone in the crew except for the Force user. He had seen her roll her eyes at him everytime he would meditate, even when Finn joined him. 

He already knew that she had little to no belief in the Force, saying it was part of galactical legends when she had first met Poe, that it didn’t exist, that the Empire wouldn’t have the galaxy in shambles if it did.

Rey slowly shook her head and rubbed her bandaged arm, her face bearing a mixture guilt and confusion.

“Eh…no, we don’t,” she began, her voice low and her eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know why, but I just get a bad vibe off of him. Although, he is just as guilty of avoiding me as I am of ignoring him.” She leaned back and Finn tried to pinpoint the expression on her face, with one eyebrow raised and her voice slightly higher than usual, but none came to mind. “I don’t hate him or anything, but we’re certainly not friends.”

“You don’t have to be,” He added, resting his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. “You did almost defeat him, you almost took down a Jedi! If BB8 hadn't have shocked you, you probably would have had his ass handed to him-”

“He’s not a Jedi, Finn.”

“I know you don’t believe in the Force, but he is. He used a Jedi mind trick on Plutt so he would tell the Empire that his henchmen made a mistake and captured a local instead. It’s the only reason we haven’t been caught!” 

Finn’s hands were all over the place as he tried to convince Rey of Kylo’s powers. He covered all the points that convinced him (then again, he didn’t need much convincing).

“He carries a lightsaber, Rey!”

“I’ve never seen him use it.”

“Because he’s never needed to!” Finn laughed, he knew whatever he said she wouldn’t believe, but he couldn’t help but smile at her passion for the subject. “What would it take for you to believe me?”

“You keep going on about how strong he is,” She smirked. “Maybe if he actually beat me at a sparring match…”

He chuckled in response. 

He did have to admit, that was something he would have loved to see.

“Maybe you should go and challenge him, then.”

-

There were days that Finn would join Kylo in meditation, trying to channel the force to flow through his veins so he could feel it in his bones. He would guide the other, telling him to “reach out” and things similar that Rey couldn’t wrap her head around. 

Her thoughts seemed louder, coming and going as they pleased within his head. He didn’t even have to be anywhere near her to know that it was her musing that spun around his mind like circles. 

Every single scrutiny and judgment found its way in without question, and part of him hoped that whatever this was, it wasn’t happening to Rey too. 

He was lucky that Rose has relieved him of this evening’s night watch duties, he was barely being able to concentrate on what had just happened. 

There was more, more to this than he could comprehend, especially after their interaction earlier that day.

Poe or Finn weren’t in the room that the three of them shared, the old forward hold now contained the possessions of the men, as well as a lone mattress in one corner of the room with a hammock at the other. A mixture of dark clothes covered what little space on the floor they had, the only shelf being used by Kylo to hold his prized possessions, a few texts, his old calligraphy set, a chest he hoped he would never have to open…

He untied the sash around his short black robes, letting it fall to the floor, blending in what was already there. He cleared the centre of the room, pushing dirty clothes and trinkets to a free corner.

There was no light flowing in, the only thing that surrounded him was darkness, something he couldn’t help but feel so comfortable in. 

He crossed his legs, sitting on the cold metal of the ship's floor, its coolness a welcome difference to the heat of the early evening outside. He inhaled long, deep breaths and exhaled through his nose. Resting his hands on his legs, he closed his eyes, concentrating, reaching out to feel the force, to...

He opened his eyes. 

No longer was he in his room, the coldness replaced with the uneven patches of damp ground. 

Looking down, he noticed his clothing has changed, his old grey and brown Jedi robes from his teenage years replaced his the black shirt and trousers that were left on his body in the millennium falcon. 

He couldn’t explain the feeling, it was as if he had gotten shorter and his chest smaller, no longer could feel the ends of his hair on his shoulders. If was as if he had gotten younger... 

The swampy grounds felt familiar as he walked along, bending underneath tree branches and managing to twist and turn around the vines of obscured his vision of the path ahead. 

He didn’t know what he was looking for, what to expect from this, he knew the force was trying to guide him, trying to make him see something, he just needed to figure out what-

He saw it, the light flickering in the distance and the urge to move towards it quickly followed, taking over every other sense he thought he had to explore elsewhere. 

This was where he had to be. 

Time seemed to slow down the closer he got to his destination, the warmth of the small hut’s fire drawing him in. It felt welcoming, inviting, as if he was nothing but wanted there. 

“Ben?”

He turned to face the voice, confused and tired with age.

Luke.

The pieces of damp wood from the dagobah forests fell to the ground, his uncle's arms wide and around Ben’s shoulders before another word could be spoken by either of them, both embracing with tears in their eyes.

“Come in, Ben,” said Luke, breaking the silence of their reunion. He gestured towards the small entrance of Luke’s home. “Your grandfather will be happy to see you.”

He nodded, following his uncle inside, bending low in order to fit through the doorway of their shelter, entering the dimly-light home of his banished family.

And his uncle was right, his grandfather, sitting on the inset in the wall with his back arched and his elbows resting on table aged from years of use. 

It was as if Anakin Skywalker looked at peace, something Ben could only dream of.

It was a tight squeeze, getting all three of them in the minuscule hut. He remembered the first time he was welcomed in, almost 10 years ago at the point, how Luke told him about the Jedi master that once called this place his home, how he was one of the most powerful force users to ever live despite his height of only two feet.

And how he ran, hid on this godforsaken planet after his grandfather’s fall to the darkside.

“Ben,” his grandfather managed to whisper, holding out a shaky human hand to his young kin. A small smile managed to appear on his pale wrinkled face, yet it was as warm as the fire crackling at another end of the room.

“Grandfather.”

“You look on edge, my child.” He sighed, looking first at him with weary eyes and then with a worried smile. “The Force brought you here to us, it knew we could help with your disturbance over the girl-”

“How did you know about Rey?”

Anakin Skywalker watched as his son ducked under the low ceilings to join them, carrying a tray of hot tea to keep their bodies warm in the cold of the night.

“Your grandfather knows more than you’d think,” Luke admitted, placing the cup in Ben’s cold hand. “He’s seen you train on Jakku when he rests, he’s impressed, thinks your technique has really come along.”

Ben watched as a smirk grew across his Uncle’s face, unsure of what to say to him or even do. He eyes glanced back to his grandfather, reminiscent of evenings like these after-

“You look the same as the day you left us, Ben.”

He looked down at his attire, beginning to realize why he looked the way he did. It was as if he body had transformed to the last time he was with his family on Dagobah.

“It’s how the force projects you to us, Ben,” his uncle explained, obviously seeing the confusion on his face. “You only what us to see you for what you were, not what you’ve become.”

His grandfather looked proudly at Luke, knowing he had taught him well over the years.

“Why did you come here, Ben?”

He shouldn’t even bother to answer. Luke always knew what was bothering him, sometimes before he even knew himself. His mother would have probably called it a bad habit, an invasion of privacy, but he knew Luke didn’t mean any harm from it, it was just how he worked. 

“Ben?” His grandfather asked, his eyes filled with worry and concern. 

“...there’s…someone…” he began to explain, bowing his head forward and resting his elbows on his knees. 

“Yes, the girl,” his grandfather smiled. “Tell us, my child.”

He told them of the Resistance group within the rebellion, it had been that long since he had spoken to his grandfather and uncle. He told them about the mission, about how they crash landed on Jakku, how Poe Dameron convinced Finn to stay and help their cause instead of running from the empire. 

He told them about Rey, how she had resisted his powers the first time they met, how she was now a member of their team tasked with fixing the falcon. 

He explained how in the late afternoon she had marched up to him in the middle of his mediation and demanded to spar against him, some sort of rematch to see if he was as powerful as Finn had gushed about. She had pointed her staff in his face, the same one she had fought him off with back at Niima Outpost, the one made from pieces of scrap metal originating from different wreckages throughout the planet. 

It would definitely be seen as rude if he didn't accept, besides, there was something in him that wanted to defeat her, to prove his worth against her, to show how powerful he was against this scavenger who was never trained by Luke and Anakin Skywalker. 

“I didn’t notice it at first, but she is strong with the force, untrained but stronger than she knows…” He said softly. “But I can peer into her mind when I don't try or even want to, and I’m afraid she might be able to do the same with me…”

He looked up to see his uncle and grandfather, gazing at him with uneasy looks of their own accord, listening intuitively for what he would say next.

What he did want to say next, but couldn’t. 

Instead, he put his hand on both of theirs, playing the memory over and over again in his head of his defeat, of his failure, his shame.

He let them see the anger on Rey’s face as swung her quarterstaff at him, the fire in her eyes and the growl that came from her gritted teeth as their weapons clashed. He let them see him push her to the ground, pushing her staff into her chest as she shoved it back, the force of each other's strength not enough to move the other. 

He let the see how she looked him dead in the eyes, her freckled skin red with anger and exhaustion, as she said with the softest voice laced with hot anger: 

“You, you’re afraid...”

They could see her eyes, pitiful with her brows furrowed and her scowl quivering. It had taken him by surprise, her words. 

She had managed to push him back, catching him off guard and jumping back to her feet, swinging her staff at him once again. 

He was unsure how he was able to do it, but he was able to defend himself. Poorly, yes, but it was still defensive. 

It wasn’t her fighting that scared him though.

“You’re afraid you’ll never live up to your family’s expectations!”

She swung.

“You’re afraid you’ll fall to the dark side!” 

And again, she struck at him. 

“You’re afraid you’ll never be as strong AS ANAKIN SKYWALKER!”

He cut off the memory, breathing heavily after he had to relive it once again in front of his family. He couldn’t look back up at them, only able to close his eyes and squeeze his fingers around the palms he held. 

“The Force works in strange ways, Ben,” He heard his grandfather say, his voice shaking, yet it was still calm and confident. “It obviously wishes for you to connect with Kira.”

He shook his head, he wasn’t going to correct his grandfather on Rey’s name, Anakin was getting too old to remember the basic details of his story yet wise to tell him what to do about it.

“Show me, grandfather…”

When he opened his eyes again, they were gone. The dim light of the smouldering fire in the hut had been replaced by the darkness inside the Millenium Falcon. No longer did he wear thin, beige robes nor was his hair short and roughly cut, it was back to locks of black waves.

He couldn’t recall what his grandfather had shown him but he knew what he had to do.

He grabbed his robe from earlier, still lying in the corner of his shared room. One sleeve in, then two, he didn’t bother to tie the knot of the sash that fastened it properly, that could wait until he found her.

He needed to talk to her, and the way he all but ran through the corridors of the ship to the sand outside showed how urgent it was. 

He found her where he thought he would, standing atop the Falcon, goggles with black glass and a worn leather trim covering her eyes as her exposed skin glowed in the Jakku sunset.

“Rey!” He called out, grabbing her attention from the mechanics of their ship. She popped her head up and raised her goggles to her head, raising an eyebrow at his call.

“What is it, Kylo?” She sounded annoyed, frustrated to be pulled away from her work.

He had to swallow his pride, do what had to be done. 

“You need a teacher, Rey!” He yelled and her confused expression twisted into that of anger.

“I what-”

“You powerful with the force, Rey! I know you somewhere inside you, you can feel it, even if you don’t believe!” It was like he forgot how breath as he talked, he didn’t know why he was holding onto his breath like he was drowning, like was being choked, like-

She stood up, walking towards the edge of the ship before jumping down, strips of fabric flying up as she landed with a faint “thud” on the soft sand.

“I can show you the ways of the force, Rey…” He sounded desperate like he was begging her to join him, fearful of her rejection.

Yet she still stood before him, her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed.

“Why should I let you, Kylo?” She did have a valid point, there was no reason for her to trust him. The only times she had spent with consisted of nothing but glaring and fighting, always physical.

He should back away, he should have left her alone, let her go back to her work before the sun went down and the night got cold, but instead, he held out his hand, clad in a black leather glove, out in front of him.

“Please…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was that? I remember after I posted chapter one someone had asked about Anakin and if he was alive (so yes Purpleunicorn_07, he is!) I wasn't planning on revealing that information until much later in the story, but things change and you might as well give the people what they <3
> 
> Sadly, there may not be another update for a while as I am working on my submission for the RFFA, but I have something else entirely prewritten to pass the time in the meantime! 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought! Comments? questions? You can find me at Nazemova.tumblr.com <3

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is long, so thanks for finishing! I know this is long but you made it! 
> 
> I know my grammar and spelling isn't the best, so please bear with me as I fix mistakes whenever I find them/are pointed out/find a beta...
> 
> Updates will /probably/ not be frequent, it took me three weeks to write chapter 1 alone (but I do have most of the story planned out, so don't worry!). 
> 
> Comments/Kudos are greatly appreciated, let me know what you think! What I'm doing right or what I'm not! (just be friendly, I'm sensitive). You can find me on Tumblr @Nazemova if you wish to talk there :)


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